I know that I have been slipping lately. That stems mostly from having two kids in the house and no laptop. It's a poor excuse, but it's what I've got.
I have had some ideas for posts, and I expect to type some of them in the near future, but most have been too serious. It is easy to get into a pattern of the same type of post. Lately, I don't really feel like I have provided much intrigue, insight, or entertainment. Today is probably not the day that I step it up, though, since my topic is American Idol.
For the most part, I am not that drawn to American Idol. Most of the contestants don't sing the types of songs that I like, and the later stages of the show are eighty percent fluff. I do enjoy the first few episodes of each season, though, where many of the people who sing worse than I do throw tantrums about not making it past the initial round. It's not really to poke fun as much as it is to be in awe of how mentally disturbed a lot of these contestants are. Even with this reasoning, I am starting to feel a little guilty about what enjoyment I do derive from this.
Most people know that a couple of months ago a major Paula Abdul fan, who had been one of those featured contestants, killed herself a few blocks from Abdul's home. Upon watching several failed contestants tonight a few things were obvious to me. First, someone told Simon Cowell to tone it down because he didn't go after people like he used to. Second, there are a lot of mentally unstable people who audition in the show. It should not shock anyone that a former contestant killed herself after being on the show. It should be more of a surprise that this has only happened once.
It is a staple of the show to have some crying contestant stomp out of the audition room saying that Simon is an idiot who does not know real talent. The person who goes through that tirade for the cameras has to be at least a bit delusional. I would have to believe that people who are delusional are more likely to do unfortunately extreme things such as take their own life due to how they were portrayed on a reality show. If you have a show that lasts several seasons and show countless delusional people going through this same routine, isn't this sort of thing inevitable?
I don't really expect to see much more of this season with school starting, but I think that every time I see a contestant on the show who has obvious issues I am going to wonder if he or she is able to go to the same extremes that this one unfortunate fan did. This stage of the show is still interesting. It is just now a bit more sombre, and I'll think twice before laughing about a specific contestant.
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2 comments:
I think you know where I stand on American Idol. It represents what I hate about the music industry. People that go on that show want to be instant celebraties. Turns out, most of the winners on that show never are heard from again after their first album (there are a few exceptions I know).
Most of the relevent artist out there, have developed their skills and have struggled at one time. They are not seeking the most popular approval rating. I am sure a lot of American Idol winners have struggled too, but their star status is handed to them and not fought for.
I agree that there seem to be a lot of unstable applicants, but maybe there are less than we think and they only show us the ones that are "out there" for good tv.
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